Ages

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɪz/

Definitions

1. Intervals of time marked by significant developments and transitions
2. Distinct phases in human life that encompass unique milestones and transformations
3. Extended spans of years or eras characterized by notable changes or events ; phases in a person's lifetime that are defined by certain achievements and changes

Etymology: The English noun "age" has a surprisingly tidy Latin ancestor: "aevum," meaning "lifetime" or "age," which English picked up through Old French "âge." The plural "ages" simply counts those stretches of time. English had its own native word for the same idea, Old English "ieldu," but it was displaced by the French-derived form, so the word we use today is a borrowing rather than an inheritance from the older English vocabulary. The verb "to age" is a more curious case. It grew out of the noun rather than arriving as a verb in its own right. Early uses appear mostly as a participial adjective, the kind of form ending in "-ed," and English speakers seem to have reinterpreted that adjective as a verb. Scholars compare this to pairs like Latin "senex" (old man, adjective) and "senēscō" (to grow old, verb), and to French "vieil" and "vieillir," though the exact mechanism in English is not fully settled.

Synonyms: years, periods, epochs

Antonyms: youth, newness